(a) Technical Field
The disclosure herein relates to systems and methods for remotely diagnosing vehicular problems, providing fair-market cost estimates for repairs, issuing automated service reminders, and/or generating leads for repair shops.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Existing systems for diagnosing and repairing vehicles have a number of drawbacks. For example, most vehicle owners do not have the technical expertise needed to diagnose problems with their vehicles, let alone estimate the fair-market cost for repairing their vehicles. To obtain a diagnosis and estimate, a vehicle owner usually must take his or her vehicle to a repair shop during regular business hours to obtain an estimate from a vehicle mechanic whose goal is to maximize profits for the repair shop. This process is burdensome to the vehicle owner, and the vehicle owner has no way to determine whether the repair estimate is reasonable.
Furthermore, mechanics have limited ways to attract new business—typically through local advertising or referrals. Some mechanics may also prefer to attract new business that is focused to a particular expertise (e.g., late model Japanese cars) or certain types of work (e.g., brakes and tires).
As such, it would be highly desirable to provide systems and methods for simplifying the vehicle repair process for the vehicle owner while providing mechanics with focused leads for new business.